I have been a Franklin Supporter and still remain a supporter

[PSU Soupy]

James Franklin has brought an energy to PSU that has not been at PSU the last 5 years of Joe and through the O'Brien Years. I am grateful for what Joe and Bill O did for PSU, but I really like the energy that James has brought to the entire state of PSU...winning over the media, winning over the high school coaches who were lost during the past 10 years.

Yesterday what I saw was special teams play that was good....thought that Farmer might break a return back for a TD and liked Allen returning punts....I thought that we covered kickoffs and punts pretty well and Joe kicked the one field goal and the Extra Point. You could see the athleticism increase from last year. On defense they looked good until the game got away from PSU the first 3 series Temple did not get a first down. Losing Wartman hurt and the lack of offense past the 10 minute mark in the game took the energy out of the PSU Defense.

The offense looked like the tOSU vs. VT game last year. VT found that they could blitz every play and tOSU could not handle it......through the rest of the year tOSU found a way to burn the blitz and teams backed off. Temple has given us the playbook for how defenses will play PSU.....send 5 people and play man on the outside with zone on the inside. The OL was said to have a chip on their shoulder, well now it is a boulder the same with Hack.

I believe that James will understand that he cannot lose momentum with recruiting for next year and the year after and will make changes to the staff or change the direction of the offense to maintain his momentum on the recruiting side.

I saw what James and the staff did here in Nashville with Vanderbilt where it is impossible to get talent.

Getting their teeth kicked in and embarrassed on National TV may turn out to be a positive as the team will see that they are not as good as they thought that they were and that their toughness is no where close to where it needs to be.

I think that PSU will be better in 2015, improve in 2016 and be in competition for the Big 10 title in 2017.

The board of trustees, the national media, the local media could not destroy PSU Football, lets not have the Alumni and the Fans cause the downfall of PSU Football.

 

[jay_hq]

#dontfirefranklin

 

[dwiz]

Does JF fire coaches? He's so big on the "family" thing, will he have the stones to cut Donovan loose and bring in someone who can adjust the gameplan when it obviously isn't working?

 

[PSU Soupy]

Does JF fire coaches? He's so big on the "family" thing, will he have the stones to cut Donovan loose and bring in someone who can adjust the gameplan when it obviously isn't working?

That is the $3.5 Million question. I think that he will make the change if it does not work this year. He has not done it before, because it has worked if we play 10 more games like yesterday, James will make the change in my opinion.

 

[lbujoe33]

James Franklin has brought an energy to PSU that has not been at PSU the last 5 years of Joe and through the O'Brien Years. I am grateful for what Joe and Bill O did for PSU, but I really like the energy that James has brought to the entire state of PSU...winning over the media, winning over the high school coaches who were lost during the past 10 years.

Yesterday what I saw was special teams play that was good....thought that Farmer might break a return back for a TD and liked Allen returning punts....I thought that we covered kickoffs and punts pretty well and Joe kicked the one field goal and the Extra Point. You could see the athleticism increase from last year. On defense they looked good until the game got away from PSU the first 3 series Temple did not get a first down. Losing Wartman hurt and the lack of offense past the 10 minute mark in the game took the energy out of the PSU Defense.

The offense looked like the tOSU vs. VT game last year. VT found that they could blitz every play and tOSU could not handle it......through the rest of the year tOSU found a way to burn the blitz and teams backed off. Temple has given us the playbook for how defenses will play PSU.....send 5 people and play man on the outside with zone on the inside. The OL was said to have a chip on their shoulder, well now it is a boulder the same with Hack.

I believe that James will understand that he cannot lose momentum with recruiting for next year and the year after and will make changes to the staff or change the direction of the offense to maintain his momentum on the recruiting side.

I saw what James and the staff did here in Nashville with Vanderbilt where it is impossible to get talent.

Getting their teeth kicked in and embarrassed on National TV may turn out to be a positive as the team will see that they are not as good as they thought that they were and that their toughness is no where close to where it needs to be.

I think that PSU will be better in 2015, improve in 2016 and be in competition for the Big 10 title in 2017.

The board of trustees, the national media, the local media could not destroy PSU Football, lets not have the Alumni and the Fans cause the downfall of PSU Football.

The bottom line is there is no talent on the offensive line, along with poor offensive line coaching, and just horrible play calling. We never throw to the tight ends, especially Kyle Carter.

 

[PSU Soupy]

Agree. Staples of the PSU offense that we do not see.

1)Screen Passes (other than flanker screens)
2) TE Stick routes 8-12yards middle of the zone. (Gesicki - 2 balls thrown his way????)
3) Wheel routes with a RB beating a LB down the sideline........
4) Roll out away from the rush.


If the line does not block.....cannot block very little that you can do.

 

[Eurotrash1]

I fear his rep as a great recruiter who can't coach maybe true. Let's let the season play out. I realize we still have weaknesses on our roster...but we still have way more talent than Temple. We simply were out coached.

 

[bplionfan]

Does JF fire coaches? He's so big on the "family" thing, will he have the stones to cut Donovan loose and bring in someone who can adjust the gameplan when it obviously isn't working?

If he wants to play the CEO role as a HC, then it is on him to weed out the worst coaches. He better have the stones in the position he is in. He can't be worried about "family" if that is the HC style he is utilizing.

 

[Bushwood CC]

Does JF fire coaches? He's so big on the "family" thing, will he have the stones to cut Donovan loose and bring in someone who can adjust the gameplan when it obviously isn't working?

Everybody seems convinced it is Donovan who is having trouble reading that the other team is blitzing and making adjustments.....the reality is that you could all be wrong, maybe our QB is making horrendous decisions in regards to RECOGNIZING obvious blitz packages and changing the play call relative to defensive scheme and alignment that the defense shows??? Temple did not do a lot of blitzing in the 1st Qtr and PSU's Offense was fine -- the problems did not start until Temple started blitzing on every play and they were often sending 7 rushers not just 5!!! (especially on clear passing down & distances - Temple did "run blitz" on virtually every play and sometimes sent 5 - e.g., 1 blitzer - but they more frequently sent 6 and 7 men on blitzes including on virtually every 2nd and 3rd and long situation). The problems for the offense started when Temple went "blitz happy" and whether it was the fault of the OC and Offensive Coaches OR the QB is not clear at all. Why didn't CH audible out of a single absurd play call versus a jailhouse break blitz??? You can nor run, deep-drop, deep-pattern, slow-developing plays against this type of scheme -- you must adjust to a quick hitter thrown on a 2 or 3 step drop to the area of the field vacating the most blitzers [e.g., the proverbial "hot read"]. PSU never did this and it is likely just as much, or more, the QB's fault than the OC -- in fact, the Coaching Staff's biggest fault may have been to not pull CH if he kept making the wrong reads over and over and over again, but this would be on the HC, not the OC IMHO.

 

[franklinman]

Agree. Staples of the PSU offense that we do not see.

1)Screen Passes (other than flanker screens)
2) TE Stick routes 8-12yards middle of the zone. (Gesicki - 2 balls thrown his way????)
3) Wheel routes with a RB beating a LB down the sideline........
4) Roll out away from the rush.


If the line does not block.....cannot block very little that you can do.

Simple,when Temple went down 10-0,they made adjustment,and when they started to come back PSU made NO adjustments...That is on the coaching staff,not the players...

 

[AWS1022]

I think we just have a terrible O Line and a qb that doesn't fit the coach's system. That's a bad combination which probably can't be fixed in a season. If he benches Hack and continues to lose, then he will get trashed for sitting a first round draft pick. And we obviously don't have anyone that's very good backing him up either.

 

[newell138]

we all support him!

 

[NapaNit]

He's lost me. Nice guy and a good recruiter........but he needs to learn to F*CKING adjust, and to learn what PSU football means!!! Change your play calling, change your players (QB), change your coaches or change yourself. As a true coach, he should have taken the headset from Donovan and shown what he can do. Without changes, he'll go on the 'warm seat' next year....and deserve it.

 

[bmejnes]

I support Franklin as well, but he needs to see what's not working in his program. The OC and the offensive scheme he is choosing to run isn't working. It's hasn't worked for almost 14 games of his tenure. Lose Donovan!!

An FCS coach can come in and run a basic pro style offense and have us scoring 3 TD's per game..

 

[JoeDidntKnow]

James Franklin has brought an energy to PSU that has not been at PSU the last 5 years of Joe and through the O'Brien Years. I am grateful for what Joe and Bill O did for PSU, but I really like the energy that James has brought to the entire state of PSU...winning over the media, winning over the high school coaches who were lost during the past 10 years.

Yesterday what I saw was special teams play that was good....thought that Farmer might break a return back for a TD and liked Allen returning punts....I thought that we covered kickoffs and punts pretty well and Joe kicked the one field goal and the Extra Point. You could see the athleticism increase from last year. On defense they looked good until the game got away from PSU the first 3 series Temple did not get a first down. Losing Wartman hurt and the lack of offense past the 10 minute mark in the game took the energy out of the PSU Defense.

The offense looked like the tOSU vs. VT game last year. VT found that they could blitz every play and tOSU could not handle it......through the rest of the year tOSU found a way to burn the blitz and teams backed off. Temple has given us the playbook for how defenses will play PSU.....send 5 people and play man on the outside with zone on the inside. The OL was said to have a chip on their shoulder, well now it is a boulder the same with Hack.

I believe that James will understand that he cannot lose momentum with recruiting for next year and the year after and will make changes to the staff or change the direction of the offense to maintain his momentum on the recruiting side.

I saw what James and the staff did here in Nashville with Vanderbilt where it is impossible to get talent.

Getting their teeth kicked in and embarrassed on National TV may turn out to be a positive as the team will see that they are not as good as they thought that they were and that their toughness is no where close to where it needs to be.

I think that PSU will be better in 2015, improve in 2016 and be in competition for the Big 10 title in 2017.

The board of trustees, the national media, the local media could not destroy PSU Football, lets not have the Alumni and the Fans cause the downfall of PSU Football.

Amen to this

 

[anon_xdc8rmuek44eq]

James Franklin has brought an energy to PSU that has not been at PSU the last 5 years of Joe and through the O'Brien Years. I am grateful for what Joe and Bill O did for PSU, but I really like the energy that James has brought to the entire state of PSU...winning over the media, winning over the high school coaches who were lost during the past 10 years.

Yesterday what I saw was special teams play that was good....thought that Farmer might break a return back for a TD and liked Allen returning punts....I thought that we covered kickoffs and punts pretty well and Joe kicked the one field goal and the Extra Point. You could see the athleticism increase from last year. On defense they looked good until the game got away from PSU the first 3 series Temple did not get a first down. Losing Wartman hurt and the lack of offense past the 10 minute mark in the game took the energy out of the PSU Defense.

The offense looked like the tOSU vs. VT game last year. VT found that they could blitz every play and tOSU could not handle it......through the rest of the year tOSU found a way to burn the blitz and teams backed off. Temple has given us the playbook for how defenses will play PSU.....send 5 people and play man on the outside with zone on the inside. The OL was said to have a chip on their shoulder, well now it is a boulder the same with Hack.

I believe that James will understand that he cannot lose momentum with recruiting for next year and the year after and will make changes to the staff or change the direction of the offense to maintain his momentum on the recruiting side.

I saw what James and the staff did here in Nashville with Vanderbilt where it is impossible to get talent.

Getting their teeth kicked in and embarrassed on National TV may turn out to be a positive as the team will see that they are not as good as they thought that they were and that their toughness is no where close to where it needs to be.

I think that PSU will be better in 2015, improve in 2016 and be in competition for the Big 10 title in 2017.

The board of trustees, the national media, the local media could not destroy PSU Football, lets not have the Alumni and the Fans cause the downfall of PSU Football.

Did Kyle Carter even play?

 

[hagberg]

Does JF fire coaches? He's so big on the "family" thing, will he have the stones to cut Donovan loose and bring in someone who can adjust the gameplan when it obviously isn't working?

If this quote from his presser is any indication, his staff will remain intact. He might say that he gives the players credit when they win and takes the heat himself when they lose, but this tells a different story:

+++++++
Franklin was also asked about offensive playcalling, particularly the adjustments the Nittany Lions tried to make as they cooled off after a hot start.
"It comes down to protection and being able to run the ball," Franklin said. "We're not able to do that right now. There's not a whole lot of plays in the playbook when you can't consistently protect or run the ball."
+++++++

In other words, it's not Donovan's or Hand's fault, it's that the o-line and the RBs can't do their jobs. In another answer, he also at least partially blamed Pasquarello for giving Temple great field position, so I guess a shell shocked ineffective offense was not really to blame.

 

[Westcoast24]

Franklin is a great recruiter but a so so in game coach. Honestly reminds me a little bit of Brady Hoke. Now I hope Franklin won't be loyal to a fault with some of his coordinators like Hoke was or things might take even longer to build.

 

[PSU08Iraq11]

I support Franklin as well, but he needs to see what's not working in his program. The OC and the offensive scheme he is choosing to run isn't working. It's hasn't worked for almost 14 games of his tenure. Lose Donovan!!

An FCS coach can come in and run a basic pro style offense and have us scoring 3 TD's per game..

I was at the game at about the 30 yard line on the Temple side next to their student section and 6 rows up. First of all, hats off to the Temple fans for getting involved in the game and creating a great atmosphere for their team. It was kind of interesting and you could just feel the momentum change after that interception that almost went for a Temple TD. In my mind, that's when all the wheels really came off. That and the Wartman injury. Wooten was running around in the middle like a chicken with his head cut off - no football IQ at all.

The Temple student section was completely low class, chanting "Fu$k Penn State!" constantly (I guess they don't realize that they are a Joe Paterno-Proxy team?). Their non-student fans were more level headed and just elated at beating the team that has had them as their 70-year doormat.

But Penn State's O-line is just not good. I think it comes down to three things:

1. At O-line: Guys playing out of position, lack of talent, and lack of depth, with possible addition of not being coached up to their potential
2. Depth: Bill O'Brien recruited in a way to win immediately or at least maintain an above .500 squad, but it left the cupboard bare for years 3 and 4 post-sanctions (NOW), which is partially the reason he left town besides getting his almost-dream job.
3. Coaching and Hack: We know that Franklin and Hack are good; they've proven so in the past. No amount of chutzpah from coach or skill from Hack will overcome a poor O-line, lack of depth, and an honestly pretty weak ability to make in-game adjustments.

If PSU can scheme a bit better around what they now surely know they have to work with, they might do alright. I do not expect more than 6 wins this year, but would not be shocked if they only win 4 with an outside chance at 8 if they improve week to week and figure out how to adjust and scheme.

Bottom line: Temple kicked our ass and we have a lot of work to do in order to compete in the B1G. I do not think that it is an overreaction to think that Temple may win 10 games, either.

 

[AJP]

James Franklin has brought an energy to PSU that has not been at PSU the last 5 years of Joe and through the O'Brien Years. I am grateful for what Joe and Bill O did for PSU, but I really like the energy that James has brought to the entire state of PSU...winning over the media, winning over the high school coaches who were lost during the past 10 years.

Yesterday what I saw was special teams play that was good....thought that Farmer might break a return back for a TD and liked Allen returning punts....I thought that we covered kickoffs and punts pretty well and Joe kicked the one field goal and the Extra Point. You could see the athleticism increase from last year. On defense they looked good until the game got away from PSU the first 3 series Temple did not get a first down. Losing Wartman hurt and the lack of offense past the 10 minute mark in the game took the energy out of the PSU Defense.

The offense looked like the tOSU vs. VT game last year. VT found that they could blitz every play and tOSU could not handle it......through the rest of the year tOSU found a way to burn the blitz and teams backed off. Temple has given us the playbook for how defenses will play PSU.....send 5 people and play man on the outside with zone on the inside. The OL was said to have a chip on their shoulder, well now it is a boulder the same with Hack.

I believe that James will understand that he cannot lose momentum with recruiting for next year and the year after and will make changes to the staff or change the direction of the offense to maintain his momentum on the recruiting side.

I saw what James and the staff did here in Nashville with Vanderbilt where it is impossible to get talent.

Getting their teeth kicked in and embarrassed on National TV may turn out to be a positive as the team will see that they are not as good as they thought that they were and that their toughness is no where close to where it needs to be.

I think that PSU will be better in 2015, improve in 2016 and be in competition for the Big 10 title in 2017.

The board of trustees, the national media, the local media could not destroy PSU Football, lets not have the Alumni and the Fans cause the downfall of PSU Football.

 

[AJP]

James Franklin has brought an energy to PSU that has not been at PSU the last 5 years of Joe and through the O'Brien Years. I am grateful for what Joe and Bill O did for PSU, but I really like the energy that James has brought to the entire state of PSU...winning over the media, winning over the high school coaches who were lost during the past 10 years.

Yesterday what I saw was special teams play that was good....thought that Farmer might break a return back for a TD and liked Allen returning punts....I thought that we covered kickoffs and punts pretty well and Joe kicked the one field goal and the Extra Point. You could see the athleticism increase from last year. On defense they looked good until the game got away from PSU the first 3 series Temple did not get a first down. Losing Wartman hurt and the lack of offense past the 10 minute mark in the game took the energy out of the PSU Defense.

The offense looked like the tOSU vs. VT game last year. VT found that they could blitz every play and tOSU could not handle it......through the rest of the year tOSU found a way to burn the blitz and teams backed off. Temple has given us the playbook for how defenses will play PSU.....send 5 people and play man on the outside with zone on the inside. The OL was said to have a chip on their shoulder, well now it is a boulder the same with Hack. You don.t have to worry the media and the press couldn't destroy PSU football but
James Franklin and his Great offensive coaches are doing a pretty good job of it right now. I am tired of hearing how great he did at Vandy as far as I can see he is a great recruiter and a nice guy. That is where it ends. PSU has probably the worst OC in college football and hand shouldn't be allowed to coach pop warner let alone PSU. Donavan and Hand don't have a clue PSU in the last 51 minutes of the game got a total net yds. of 55 I bet Temple don't hold any other team to that total this year. Just think of that figure 55 yds. in 51 minutes and that doesn't change your mind that Donavan and Hand should be shown there walking papers as soon as possible.

I believe that James will understand that he cannot lose momentum with recruiting for next year and the year after and will make changes to the staff or change the direction of the offense to maintain his momentum on the recruiting side.

I saw what James and the staff did here in Nashville with Vanderbilt where it is impossible to get talent.

Getting their teeth kicked in and embarrassed on National TV may turn out to be a positive as the team will see that they are not as good as they thought that they were and that their toughness is no where close to where it needs to be.

I think that PSU will be better in 2015, improve in 2016 and be in competition for the Big 10 title in 2017.

The board of trustees, the national media, the local media could not destroy PSU Football, lets not have the Alumni and the Fans cause the downfall of PSU Football.